We’re sorry

Dear Editor:

The management of the 42nd Street Bagel would like to sincerely and wholeheartedly apologize to its customers and the Claremont community for an unfortunate and hurtful event which took place on April 1st. The incident involved an argument between two patrons which included explicit and foul language. The COURIER printed a letter (Saturday, April 12) from an anonymous customer inferring the 42nd Street Bagel ignored or did little to diffuse the situation, reprimand those involved, and apologize to those who were hurt.

We would like to take this opportunity to assure our customers and the community that this is not the case. Management spoke immediately to the man involved, admonishing him of his action and issuing strict warnings that language and behavior such as his would not be tolerated in our store. The woman of color, who was also involved and verbally attacked, was not spoken to in person (she left before this was possible) but was spoken to later via telephone. The manager on duty apologized sincerely to the woman and assured her that incidents such as these, while rare, were not condoned by 42nd Street Bagel management or its employees. The woman accepted this apology.

We are disappointed that a longstanding patron of our restaurant feels our management did not handle the situation properly or that we would condone hurtful, abusive and highly inappropriate behavior. While we cannot control what our customers wear, what they say, or how they behave, we would like to reiterate that future incidents such as these will not be tolerated at 42nd Street Bagel. We pride ourselves on being a family-friendly establishment, a neighborhood gathering place, and a positive contributor to the community and again sincerely apologize to all those involved who were as hurt, shocked and saddened by this incident as we were.

42nd Street Bagel
Claremont